This week’s letter to pen friend was not on my normal monogrammed paper. Tried my new embosser this time!!

The other day, I was talking to my friend Danny when he mentioned that his brother makes pens as a hobby.

“Does he make fountain pens?” I had asked.

“No, ball points, I think.” he said.

And that was that…

Till his brother decided to make a fountain pen for me!!

Got this as a gift from Akshay. This has all the elements of stuff I like – math, writing with fountain pen and something completely quirky.

As you see, the name of the notebook is “Nonstandard Notebook” – Mathematically Ruled Pages for Unruly Thoughts!!

Check out the Contents page. I have also included two sample pages – “herringbone” and “rupture” curves and the mathematical equations that give rise to those lines!!

Love writing on it!

This one is headed to Finland

This fountain pen is a generous gift from Dipanjan and Parijat which they picked up during their recent tour of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The body of the pen is made from the wood of Wagon Tree. This particular type of Protea tree (Protea Nitida) is the only one that grows into trees with wood hardy enough to be shaped into fountain pen barrels. They are usually found on the side of the mountains at all elevations.

When they mentioned about the Protea wood, I remembered something – that the cricket team from South Africa is often referred to as the Proteans. (like the New Zealanders are called Kiwis). Got curious about the connection. Upon research, I learnt that Protea is the national flower of South Africa. Did not know about that.

Coming back to the pen, the nib is made in Germany. Composed of iridium, it is the classic style with exposed feed.

I think brown ink will go best with this. I have a Macassar ink from Diamine in mind.

Been a bit peeved with myself lately for not staying as disciplined in my goals as I would like to be – or used to be. Got much of my mental confusion sorted out writing a long journal entry this morning. Do you journal? It certainly helps me clear my mind. How does it help you?

This missive is headed out to France…